Joe Miller won't block Sen. Lisa Murkowski from being certified the winner in the Alaska Senate race, but he isn’t giving up his fight to challenge the vote count in court.

Miller, the tea-party-backed candidate who beat Murkowski in a Republican primary, on Monday filed papers in federal court ending his opposition to the state's certification of a winner. But, in a statement released late Sunday, Miller said he will continue his legal fight over the state’s handling of the election. "This decision will allow Alaskans to focus on bringing fairness and transparency to our elections process without distraction of the certification issue," he said.

This clears the way for Murkowski to get the go-ahead from a federal judge to be sworn in along with the rest of the 112th Congress on Jan. 5. U.S. District Judge Ralph Beistline has indicated that he will probably lift his stay, which puts a hold on the state's certification process, the Anchorage Daily News reported.

Murkowski's campaign did not immediately respond to POLITICO's request for comment. She declared victory in the race in mid-November, calling it a "miracle" of a comeback.

Miller will, however, push ahead on a federal suit protesting the counting of thousands of write-in votes for Murkowski that his camp has argued should not be counted. His legal team has a string of concerns about write-in standards, vote counting and voting by felons.

"We want the end result of this legal action to be for the people of Alaska to not only have full faith in the outcome of this race but a confidence in the manner in which elections will be conducted in our state in the future," Miller said. "Election integrity is vital."